Winter Search
by mrjop2
Summary: This is a one-shot/ promo. It's it own story, but serves as a teaser for my next big HTTYD project. It's five years or so later after the events of the first movie, and a new threat is on the horizon.


Visibility was at zero. The snow was drizzling down; it was the fog that came with the storm that was the problem. This blizzard was the most untimely, and inconvenient thing that could have happened at that moment. The temperature was bone chilling and teeth chattering cold. All wildlife was now safely hunkered down in their nests or burrows. The wind was still blowing, but nowhere near as bad as it was just hours ago. It may be a relief from the full strength of the storm, but it did very little to aid them in their search.

The snow crunched beneath her feet as she pressed on with her search. Wearing boots made from Yak fur, the snow gave way to her weight with each step she took, leaving a trail of her foot prints that she could follow if she needed to backtrack. Her body armor was combined with warmer clothing also made of Yak Fur. Her hood, and her gloves were also made from this fur. Her gloves kept most of her hand and wrist warm as they were tied around her lower arm to stay in place. The only exposed skin on her hands were her finger tips, so not to lose any usage of her hands.

She carried a burning torch to light her way, but it did very little against the fog-thickened blizzard. Her hearing was also impaired by the howling of the wind around her, making it difficult to hear much of anything more than an arm's length away. Searching through this wintry mess was near impossible, and the frustration was starting to settle in.

She stopped where she was and looked around. All she could see was white flakes on top of a gray background. She dropped her hood behind her and allowed her long golden hair to flow in the wind. She still sported her braid that she had as a young girl, but in recent years, she allowed most of her hair to flow naturally. The braid represented her being a Viking not to be messed with. At thirteen years of age, she had thought of herself as a Viking first and foremost. At that age, she was determined to prove that she could be just as good of Viking as any boy. Anyone who didn't see her that way would suffer her wrath. Now, at age eighteen, while that aggressiveness was still a part of her, she had learned to adopt her role as a woman; thus she allowed her hair to flow more freely. She learned that she didn't have to pretend to be a man to be a good Viking; she could be both a woman and a Viking at the same time. She had nothing she had to prove to anyone.

Joining her by her said, her dragon sniffed at the snow on the ground, clearly not comfortable in not being able to smell anything in these conditions. The dragon had a large, horizontal egg-shaped head with blue and purple scales on her head and a smooth white, scaly chin. With large round nostrils, a horn on the bridge of her snout, and arrow of horns serving as her mane, the dragon showed her disproval by the look of her eyes.

"Hey there Stormfly, it'll be alright," Astrid comforted. Sticking her burning torch into the snow to her left, she turned to her dragon and scratched her neck and chin. "I'm sure the dragon can't be all that terrifying."

A swooshing sound had both Stormfly and Astrid on alert. Was it the sound of the wind blowing or was it something else? It was impossible to tell in these conditions; wind always tended to make strange noises during a blizzard, but she could not afford to take the chance. On full alert, she slowly and cautiously reached for her ax by her side and removed the wooden blade covers. She was ready for any attack to come her way, but that didn't stop her from wishing there was more visibility.

A shadow was walking towards them. It took only a few seconds before a tall, but thin young Viking was standing before them. About six feet tall, he wore brown leather over green cloth topped with occasion black body armor. He wore an iron helmet over his entire head, with two appropriately place holes for him to see through. His left foot was a steel prosthesis which looked like it was extremely hard to balance on. After five years, though, it had become as natural as if it was his natural foot.

"Ah, Hiccup!" Astrid sighed as she lowered her ax.

He removed his helmet and his short but wild brown hair began to whip in the wind. Astrid refrained from smiling; she had to admit... Hiccup had grown into a very handsome young man. That clumsy, insecure thirteen year-old was long dead and buried. In his place, was a confident young warrior who was now known by all as the Dragon Master.

Following him was his legendary dragon, Toothless. Still the only known Night Fury left in existence, the dragon was the most revered by most species of dragons. While he was merely a medium sized dragon, his speed, and ferociousness was something many dragons would dare not trifle with. The dragon was easily the most complex of them all. In one moment, he could be as cute and innocent as a puppy, and the next he could be a vicious, aggressive dragon upon being provoked. He shared many of the same characteristics as Hiccup, which was why they worked so well together.

Hiccup put his helmet into a satchel connected to the Toothless' saddle and then walked over to Astrid. "I can't see a thing; the fog's too thick!"

"So what do we do now?"

Hiccup frowned. "We can't give up. If we don't stop the Fanglehorn, it's going to eradicate every Viking village in the region."

Hiccup drew his sword from his sheath and the two of them stood side by side looking around. Toothless stood by his side just as Stormfly stood by hers. As he contemplated their next move, he noticed Astrid rubbing her arms and starting to shiver. She noticed his concerned look towards her. "It's cold."

Hiccup smiled wryly as he wrapped his right arm around him and pulled her into his body to allow his body heat to warm her as much as possible. She smiled up at him, always enjoying a nice snuggle, but also wishing it was somewhere a little warmer. She rested her head on his chest, just below his iron shoulder pad.

As much as he wanted to enjoy the moment, his focus was more on finding the Fanglehorn. Neither of them knew what they were looking for; no one on Berk had ever heard of such a dragon until lately. He had full confidence that this dragon was no different from any other dragon. If it was one of those few dragons which couldn't be trained, then he had no doubt that he and Toothless would find a way to make the dragon less of a danger. After five years of training and fighting with dragons, there wasn't a species of dragon he had not encountered until now. All dragons had some kind of weakness... all it took was finding it and exploiting it.

"Toothless, fire a shot forward and see if you can shed a little light."

The dragon grunted in acknowledgment. He fired a puff of blue flames into the fog, and it did light up a little bit of the area for a second or two before being devoured by the grayness. They couldn't see anything but shortly after the ball of flames disappeared, an unnerving, terrifying roar identified that something was indeed out there . Astrid quickly lifted her head from his chest and brought her ax up. Hiccup held his sword in hand, pointing it in the direction the sound had come from.

There was the sound of a large BOOM and the ground vibrated in response. It happened again and again, and it was clear that it was the results of the dragon walking towards them. Each step the dragon took, the ground shook. Toothless and Stormfly lowered their heads and gave out a fearful whine before stepping back.

Hiccup and Astrid took a step back, as well, and then looked upward. A large head pierced through the fog, followed by two other heads. They looked identical in every way, and had the same yellowish-brown colored scales. All three were connected to length, windy neck, just like the necks of a two headed Zippleback. They were perfectly synchronized to the point where it was impossible for there to be three separate, gigantic dragons; all three heads belonged to the same dragon. They looked down at the pathetic group of Vikings and dragons before him, looking like ants needing to be stomped on. Drool dripped from the fangs of all three head. All three heads let out a terrifying roar. The Fanglehorn had arrived!

_**THE FANGLEHORN IS COMING...**_

_**How to be a Viking Chief (Coming soon)**_


End file.
